KEONJHAR: As many as five persons were killed when two goods trains collided near Tangiriapal railway station, about 65 km from Keonjhar, on the Jakhapura-Banspani railway line around 1.30 am on Wednesday. All the victims were drivers and assistant drivers of the two trains, one of which was carrying mineral from Joda mining area to Jakhapura.

A railway source said, "It is a single track. One train had to stop at Tangiriapal station so that the other could pass. But for some reason, one of the driver did not stop the train resulting in the crash."

TAIPEI — Taiwan's debt-ridden high-speed rail company said Wednesday it had made a profit of nearly Tw$2 billion ($69.44 million) in the six months to June, its first since it began service in 2007.

The Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp attributed the results to the continued increase in passenger numbers, a decline in interest payments on loans, and improvement of operation.
But the hard-won Tw$1.98 billion operating profit, compared with a loss of Tw$2.3 billion a year ago, has done little to help the company reduce its snowballing debts.

THE state government's infrastructure body believes projects such as the M4 east could be more important to Sydney than the $8-10 billion North West Rail Link, senior industry sources said yesterday.

Taxpayers elected the O'Farrell government on a mandate to build the 23km line from Epping to Rouse Hill but transport sources said Infrastructure NSW was frustrated it was setting long term priorities.

The glaring hole in its independence was it had no choice but to back the rail link.

Most of the passengers scurrying to board Amtrak’s Silver Star No. 91 at New York’s Penn Station one recent morning had no idea that Chuck Jensen had already snagged the best seat: a plush leather armchair with a panoramic view out the back.

Jensen had more than a reserved seat waiting for him. He had his own rail car, an antique painted a deep Tuscan red, hitched to the end of the train.

The Russian government has given the go-ahead on an ambitious new tunnel project that could connect Siberia with Alaska via an underground rail line. If completed, the $65 billion project will be the longest underwater tunnel in the world, besting the Chunnel between England and France by twice the distance. The planned course would stretch over 65 miles and would snake beneath the Big and Little Diomede Islands. According to Inhabitat, the project will be funded by a private and public partnership. So why build it?

MELBOURNE'S trains have exceeded punctuality targets set by the state government for three consecutive months, the first time rail operator Metro has achieved this since taking over from Connex in 2009.

The improvement was revealed as Metro removed one of its top managers and replaced him with another former senior British rail executive.

In August, Metro ran just over 90 per cent of Melbourne's trains ran ''on time'' - within five minutes of the schedule.

Newcastle & Central Coast Line - Part suspended CityRail advises that trains have been part suspended on the Newcastle & Central Coast Line between Hornsby and Gosford in both directions due to an incident involving a train and a motor vehicle at a level crossing at Woy Woy.

There were 113 sightings for this week. This is one sighting less than last week, making a total of 3755 sightings for this year to date. On day 246 last year we had recorded 3452 sightings. This is 303 sightings up on the same time last year.

THERE is something perverse about giving priority to a rail link to Avalon Airport over Melbourne Airport. One offers a handful of domestic flights a day, carrying 1.5 million passengers a year.

The other is an international gateway, with 200,000 flights a year carrying a fast-growing total of 28 million passengers. Avalon is 56 kilometres from central Melbourne but readily accessible by road. Melbourne airport is closer but the 22-kilometre trip - by car, bus or taxi - is an unpredictable nightmare. Yet the state government is moving first on Avalon. ''There are challenges around an airport link for Melbourne,'' said Aviation Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips.

FIFTY million paper myki cards in storage will never be used, after the Baillieu government decision to dump all short-term tickets when the Metcard system is shut down.

The government has confirmed it owns the single-use paper tickets, which are on hundreds of pallets in warehouses in Altona and Rowville.

The tickets - designed as single-use myki fares for people who did not have a permanent plastic smartcard, and did not want to spend $10 buying one - have a microchip. Each ticket cost taxpayers 31¢, or about $15 million in total.

Australian coal freight firm QR National signed an agreement with a consortium of coal companies for the construction of the $900 million Wiggins Island Rail Project to a new export terminal at Gladstone, South Australia eyed for completion in 2015.

Great Southern Rail (GSR) says it is aiming at budget-conscious travellers with the launch of a range of new Red Service holiday packages to the outback.

This follows a recent $6 million facelift for "Red Service" aboard The Ghan between Adelaide and Darwin and the Indian Pacific between Sydney and Perth including refurbished Matilda cafes and Red Gum Lounges, and refitted seating carriages.

The trains are now a one-stop-shop for economy-level travel ranging from Australia-widerail passes to full holiday packages and short day tours, the company says.

Funding for major rail projects is good news for commuters - but the investment will be wasted if there are not enough workers to run services on the new tracks, according to the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU).

THE Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian, has delivered a blow to Sydney's inner west, revealing an 18-month delay for the light rail extension to Dulwich Hill and mothballing the Greenway cycle and walking path plan.

Ms Berejiklian blamed inadequate planning by the former government for the blow-out in costs for the project, and said the expected finish date of late next year was now more likely to be early 2014. Labor had budgeted $120 million for the light rail extension, and $30 million for the Greenway, connecting the Cooks River to Iron Cove.

But Ms Berejiklian said Transport NSW now estimated the cost at $176 million for the light rail extension from Lilyfield and $37 million for the Greenway.

The number of trains for Wendouree passengers will more than double from Sunday 9 October following a government funding boost, Minister for Public Transport Terry Mulder announced today.

V/Line has been given the go-ahead to extend 85 existing weekly Ballarat trains to and from Wendouree Station - resulting in more station staff, extended ticket office hours and greater flexibility for the people of Wendouree, Lake Gardens, Alfredton and surrounds.

Mr Mulder said the Coalition Government’s funding of $470,000 towards the timetable overhaul would see a greater choice of trains starting and finishing at Wendouree, particularly in the middle of the day, late at night and on weekends.

"Most Ballarat trains will soon stop at Wendouree Station making it an attractive place for people to leave the car rather than drive to Ballarat Station where parking is at a premium," Mr Mulder said.

The union boss leading the industrial fight against the operators of Melbourne's rail system says he is happy for his behaviour to be scrutinised publicly so long as the same scrutiny is applied to Metro.

In the latest escalation in the dispute that threatens to cause commuter chaos, Metro has reportedly applied to Fair Work Australia to have Rail, Tram and Bus Union and Metro locomotive division secretary Marc Marotta banned from approaching workers.

The application comes after Mr Marotta was interviewed by police over what he said was an argument with a union member. Mr Marotta admitted "voices were raised" during the altercation, but said police had cleared him of any wrongdoing.

A former JPMorgan Chase & Company executive aims to turn 26 unused London subway stations and bomb shelters into shops and tourist attractions after raising 200 million pounds ($A300 million) from investors.

Ajit Chambers, chief executive officer of Old London Underground, met Mayor Boris Johnson yesterday to discuss the plan. Chambers agreed to provide more information on potential sites, costs and the work needed to convert the stations, according to an e-mail from Johnson's office.

"We've set up the construction teams, the finance availability and the investment to renovate underground space," Chambers said in an interview. He declined to identify the investors.

There were 116 sightings for this week. This is three sighting more than last week, making a total of 3871 sightings for this year to date. On day 253 last year we had recorded 3562 sightings. This is 309 sightings up on the same time last year.

A tender assessment from September last year for 50 new "low-floor trams" reveals that the department decided a Disability Discrimination Act requirement for a step height between platforms and trams of no more than 12 millimetres was too onerous, instead asking for a cheaper 50 millimetre option, which is the European standard.

"It was determined that the 12mm option was not feasible and should not be actively pursued", the briefing to Martin Pakula, transport minister in the former Labor government, says.

Following its feel-good formula, the chief executive of Great Southern Rail, Tony Braxton-Smith, dons a disguise and takes long, cross-country trips to appreciate how under-appreciated his hard-working employees are. It is watchable in its soft-hearted, warm way but the local version of this American reality TV concept does not do as proficient a job in disguising the obvious promotional value of being on television with stories of personal hardship and unexpected rewards from grateful bosses.

FOR an edifice that is a mere 101 years old, Flinders Street Station has been subjected to more than its share of redevelopment proposals over its lifetime. Many plans - for example, the Festival Marketplace of 1989, the ''creative arts incubator'' of 2005 and the boutique hotel idea of 2007 - have come to nowt. Indeed, like the trains that run through the station, you can easily miss a plan in the secure knowledge that there'll be another one along shortly.

Dubai: A modern rail network is set to connect countries in the Arabian peninsula over the next decade, with Gulf Cooperation Council nations committing over USD 100 billion to projects that will ensure cost-effective means to transport goods and services.

Continuing high demand for oil and gas as well as the increasing need for cost-effective means to transport goods and services across the region has led to a spurt in demand for better transport and communication links throughout the Middle East, a report released by Epoc Messe Frankfurt, organiser of a trade show to be held in Dubai later this month, said.

About 40,000 people have cycled the Otago Central Rail Trail in the past 10-and-a-bit years. Not bad for a disused railroad in a depressed rural area boasting more sheep than people.

Not unlike the gold rush that brought flashmobs of miners and a boom for supporting businesses, the Rail Trail has revitalised the Otago uplands' rural economies and made international resorts out of hydro and orcharding towns like Clyde, Alexandra and Oterahua.

Great timing, then, for this great-looking and well-written book, which captures the atmosphere and the characters of the region that the 150-kilometre trail bisects on its gently graded arc from Middlemarch to Clyde.

MACARTHUR roads and transport systems are the big winners in the state coalition government’s first budget.

Several major arterial roads were allocated funding last Tuesday to improve traffic flow. Another $25 million was allocated to complete widening works along the F5 between Brooks Rd, Ingleburn, and Narellan Rd, Campbelltown.

The four-lane upgrade of Camden Valley Way received $15 million and Narellan Rd was allocated $700,000 towards widening plans.

ONE of the busiest stations in Brisbane's Citytrain network will close next month for major refurbishment work.
South Brisbane station - which is used by nearly 4000 people a day - will be out of action for as long as two months during the upgrade.

It is not clear when Queensland Rail or Translink were planning on making the closure public but a spokesman said alternative transport arrangements were being made.

The upgrade will include raising the platform so it is level with the carriages to make them wheelchair-accessible, and restoring the station to its former heritage glory.

A MORE accurate costing of the North West Rail Link should be available by the end of the year.
Geotechnical drilling that began last week will allow engineers to determine the exact underground conditions for the 23-kilometre route.

Premier Barry O'Farrell, Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian and Treasurer Mike Baird, along with local MPs Dominic Perrottet, David Elliott and Matt Kean inspected drilling at the proposed Castle Hill station last week.

The inspection comes on the back of the state budget's provision for $2.5 billion to go to the project over the next four years.

Fewer people are getting robbed on NSW trains, but assaults and sex offences are on the rise, new statistics show.

Rail passengers are more likely to become crime victims in regional areas than suburban ones, but crime levels on the rail system overall are very low, says Don Weatherburn, from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

"It's far worse out on the street," he told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday.

The State Opposition says the Government must explain how it is planning to drive down crime on Hunter trains, while there are plans to cut security staff across the network.

The latest data from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research shows that Newcastle's Waratah train station has the highest rate of personal crime, with Newcastle, Maitland and Hamilton stations also in the top 20.

The figures show that generally, recorded rates of personal crime are very low across New South Wales, with just under one incident for every 300,000 passenger journeys.

The Bureau's Doctor Don Weatherburn says Waratah station tops the the list for personal crime rates, with just over three incidents for every 100,000 journeys.

Abigroup has started work on a $42.5 million contract to duplicate an existing 34.5km section of rail embankment as part of the Fortescue Metals Group (Fortescue) Iron Ore Expansion project near Port Hedland in Pilbara region of Western Australia.

V/Line has cemented its position as Australia’s busiest and fastest growing regional rail operator following a 7.1 per cent increase in passenger trips in 2010- 11, Minister for Public Transport Terry Mulder announced today.

The increase brings the number of passenger trips on V/Line trains to 13.5 million, up from 12.6 million the year before.

The result, contained in V/Line’s 2011-12 Annual Report tabled in State Parliament today, is the sixth consecutive year of record growth for V/Line trains.

Victoria is a step closer to a better coordinated and more integrated transport system, with legislation to enable the formation of a new Public Transport Development Authority (PTDA) introduced into Parliament today.

Minister for Public Transport Terry Mulder said with the legislative process now underway, the new authority would be up and running in the first quarter of 2012.

"The new authority will be the face of public transport and will be responsible for planning, coordinating and integrating transport services throughout Victoria," Mr Mulder said.

"It will focus on the core business of a good public transport system – trains, trams and buses that run on time, simple and reliable timetables, passenger comfort and timely and accurate passenger information.

V/LINE commuters face an increasing squeeze, with the Geelong line almost at capacity during peak times and no real relief in sight until at least 2016.

The company's annual report released yesterday showed in the past five years patronage on the busiest Victorian line has increased 86 per cent to 3.77 million passengers a year while services have increased 23 per cent to 371 a week.

But with an extra 20,000 people expected to move to Geelong before the $5 billion Regional Rail Link (RRL) opens in 2016, stakeholders are calling for off-peak services every 20 minutes to ease congestion.

V/Line spokeswoman Clare Steele said because V/Line shared the Werribee to Southern Cross leg with Metro trains, only a few more peak services could be added before the line was full, which was why the dedicated Regional Rail Link line was so important.

The State Government has announced that it is investigating the feasibility of moving Victoria’s vital car import and exports from Melbourne to the Port of Geelong. A shift would have many positives for the local Geelong economy, but a number of factors need to be considered during the feasibility period.

Ports Minister Denis Napthine says the feasibility study will be completed at the end of the year, and nominated easing of traffic congestion in Melbourne’s west, increased land availability at the Port of Melbourne and the creation of about 1000 jobs in Geelong as reasons why the move could be a successful one.

A range of bodies will be approached to have their say, including shipping companies, car importers and exporters, the relevant port authorities and local councils.

One of Queensland’s unique pieces of rail infrastructure will celebrate its 125th anniversary this Saturday (17 September).

The heritage-listed Dickabram Bridge, which crosses the Mary River at Miva, north-west of Gympie, is the oldest combined road and rail crossing left in Queensland and also the oldest surviving complete steel truss bridge in the state.

The community is invited to join in the celebration marking the milestone, with free entertainment on offer at the bridge site including a band, poet’s breakfast, and the official anniversary ceremony.

STANDING on a train in Melbourne used to be something you did only on a weekday.

As the city grows though, it seems Melbourne's trains are now often crowded on weekends, too. But despite passengers showing up for trains in ever greater numbers, there have been only minor changes to weekend timetables in the last decade. And the City Loop's Flagstaff station still shuts down for the entire weekend.

THERE is something perverse about giving priority to a rail link to Avalon Airport over Melbourne Airport. One offers a handful of domestic flights a day, carrying 1.5 million passengers a year. The other is an international gateway, with 200,000 flights a year carrying a fast-growing total of 28 million passengers. Avalon is 56 kilometres from central Melbourne but readily accessible by road. Melbourne airport is closer but the 22-kilometre trip - by car, bus or taxi - is an unpredictable nightmare. Yet the state government is moving first on Avalon. ''There are challenges around an airport link for Melbourne,'' said Aviation Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips.

There were 116 sightings for this week. This is the number of sightings as last week, making a total of 3987 sightings for this year to date. On day 260 last year we had recorded 3653 sightings. This is 334 sightings up on the same time last year.

Last week's transport chaos on the opening night of the Rugby World Cup was a disgrace for Auckland.

On what was arguably one of the biggest nights in our city's history, the public transport system failed. Hundreds did not get to the game on time, as trains were held up by people on the tracks, emergency stop buttons being pressed in carriages as children and adults suffered from heat exhaustion and hyperventilation.
Fingers were pointed and blame was shifted, and Auckland's inadequate public transport system was in the firing line.

You don't need your car to have a great day out in Melbourne's suburbs. John Bailey, from the Sunday Age's M Magazine, picks some of the best food and entertainment on offer, all within walking distance of a railway station.

The ACT Greens have called on the Government to reverse its failure to pursue long-mooted plans for a Canberra light-rail network.

The Greens say since the ACT Government's bid for Commonwealth funding for a light-rail network in 2008, it has failed to progress those plans since then. Instead, the Government has made concerted bids for roads funding from Infrastructure Australia, winning support for its Majura Freeway.

Heading north on the Hume Freeway, I'm out of Melbourne and into the countryside within an hour. The sun's shining, the grass is green and the mountains, albeit modest, look majestic. The Goulburn Valley is ticking lots of boxes.

Surrounded by the Murray River, Yarra Valley, Goldfields and High Country, it probably doesn't get the love it deserves from tourists - especially at this time of lush paddocks and bushland, blossoming orchards, budding vines and rushing rivers. Heritage is among the Goulburn Valley's underappreciated charms, associated as it is with some of Victoria's earliest European settlement (Kilmore is the state's oldest inland town), the gold rush and the Kelly gang.

THE O'Farrell government's first shot at adding to Sydney's train timetable will produce just a handful of new services.

Elements of a new CityRail timetable, obtained by the Herald, show RailCorp will reduce journey times on some suburban services and add a number of mostly off-peak services.

But the timetable, to be introduced next month, also reveals some weekend service cuts, and shows RailCorp remains far from implementing the 135 new express trains promised by the Coalition before the election.

INDIAN infrastructure company GVK will allow other mining companies to use the Queensland railway line it is building from the Galilee Basin to the Abbot Point coal port, and it is also applying for extra loading capacity at the port as the size of the project ramps up.

After talks with Australian producer Hancock Coal for almost a year, GVK announced at the weekend that it was paying $1.2 billion for the project, which involves three coalmines in the Galilee Basin and a railway line to the coal-loading facilities.

MOBILE carriers and rail stakeholders have been given hope that a compromise might be found in their ongoing stand-off over 1800MHz LTE mobile broadband spectrum.

THE Australasian Railway Association (ARA) has been fighting a public battle to secure guarantees it will retain control of the licences after they start expiring from 2013 as it has earmarked them for billions of dollars of investments in a new unified rail safety and signalling system.

Carriers including Telstra, Optus and Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) also hold 1800MHz spectrum assets but they have been placing pressure on the communications regulator to make state rail interests available to them so they can deploy more powerful LTE broadband services.

STRUGGLING miner Murchison Metals has admitted it will miss a December 31 deadline to proceed with the $5.9 billion Oakajee port and rail project in Western Australia, creating further doubts over whether the long-delayed infrastructure will ever be built.

The revelation yesterday by Murchison's new chief executive, Greg Martin, will place pressure on WA Premier Colin Barnett to strip Murchison's half-owned development vehicle, Oakajee Port & Rail, of the right to build the troubled project in the Mid-West iron ore region.

However, sources close to the project suggested last night that Mr Barnett might have no choice but to stick with OPR beyond December 31 because it was the only entity with the ability to begin work in the near future.

MELBOURNE'S train operator has moved to change one of its key emergency plans for the City Loop after discovering a critical flaw in its incident response system.

Metro said yesterday it would train extra people to earth power lines in the event of an emergency in the Loop, after firefighters said they would refuse to enter in certain circumstances.

The Age can reveal that the Metropolitan Fire Brigade has told Metro it will enter the Loop only to attend a train fire if power is cut and overhead lines are earthed at both ends of the incident. The power can be cut remotely, but the earthing must be done manually.

FOUR companies and a director have been fined almost $500,000 after a NSW rail worker's arm was cut off by an excavator.

The 24-year-old man was welding on the tracks at a rail construction project at Sandgate, in the Hunter Valley, when an excavator ran over his left arm and severed it just below the elbow, WorkCover said in a statement.

His arm was later reattached but the injury has left him with permanent nerve damage.

An investigation by WorkCover found serious safety breaches by the site's contractors, including a number of defects on the rail-mounted excavator, which put the lives of employees at risk.

There were 124 sightings for this week. This is eight sightings more than last week, making a total of 4111 sightings for this year to date. On day 267 last year we had recorded 3742 sightings. This is 369 sightings up on the same time last year.

With around two crimes a day on Victoria's rail network, is the Baillieu government's costly plan to put armed officers on every Victorian train station at night really necessary?

HUSEYIN Sahin could well be the perfect protective services officer recruit. Friendly and polite, he speaks a second language and received extensive weapon training during his time in the Turkish army. The 49-year-old upholsterer plans to apply to become a PSO, and as part of what is one of the most controversial initiatives in Victoria Police's 158-year history, start guarding Melbourne's rail platforms.

Premier Ted Baillieu has reignited an old debate about the merits of building a very fast train to connect Australia's eastern cities after announcing that Victoria is set to become the regional headquarters for China South Rail, the world's largest manufacturer of electric trains.

Mr Baillieu said the state-owned company was ''certainly very interested'' in pursuing very fast train projects in future, adding that most Australians would like to see the very fast train proposal happen.

Southern Region - Due to signaling works being carried out by ARTC between Melbourne and Benalla, the overnight 20:40 Sydney to Melbourne XPT service arrived into Melbourne at 10:35. This service will remain in Melbourne until the line re-opens.

Southern Region - Due to signaling works being carried out by ARTC between Melbourne and Benalla, the 08:30 Melbourne to Sydney XPT service has been replaced by coaches for the entire journey. Delays of up to 60 minutes to be anticipated for passengers departing from Melbourne. Coaches to depart stations Benalla to Goulburn are to depart on time.

A Queensland Rail contractor poured petrol over a workmate and set him on fire in incident described as "mucking about or horseplay''.

The 21-year-old victim suffered life-threatening burns and is permanently scarred, while his 26-year-old workmate Neville Cifuentes has pleaded guilty to causing grevious bodily harm and been jailed for three years to be released on parole in September next year.

LONGVIEW, Wash. —
The main BNSF rail line is re-open through southwest Washington, after police and inspectors temporarily shut it down Monday to investigate reports of tampering along the line from north of Vancouver to Chehalis.

Spokesman Gus Melonas says officials have determined that it is safe for all operations through the area. He would not specify how the lines were tampered with, but he says it has been eliminated.

Major track work between Quakers Hill and Schofields as part of stage one of the Richmond rail line duplication will result in the shutdown from the evening of Sunday, October 2 through to Friday, October 28.

The project includes construction of over 3pm of new railway track and signal and control system testing at the Blacktown signal box.

(Reuters) - Two subway trains collided in central Shanghai on Tuesday injuring more than 200 passengers, though none critically, prompting public anger just two months after a deadly crash between two high-speed trains.

THOUSANDS of public transport users have been hit with belated bills from myki, which failed to properly debit users' bank accounts since at least September last year.

A Transport Ticketing Authority spokesman said myki had failed to collect between $100,000 and $140,000 from about 2400 users. Users may be unaware of the problem because their myki accounts were credited even though their bank accounts were not charged.

Every boom has its standard bearer, at once a symbol of a blistering future, then a failed, ruinous dream.

Lord Treasurer Robert Harley founded the South Sea Company at the heart of the South Sea Bubble, the dot com collapse featured Boo.com and Pets.com and most recently, AIG waved a flag signalling the way to the global financial crisis.

The boom in iron ore may not endure but it would be wrong to speak of Fortescue Metals in the same breath as these failures. Once puffed with promise and a share price loaded with hope, Fortescue has delivered.

Motorists battling to get to work on Melbourne's congested freeways may soon have to contend with larger trucks.

VicRoads is considering dumping the peak-hour ban on heavy trucks, introduced by the former Labor government two years ago, and allowing trucks longer than 30 metres.

Former roads minister Tim Pallas launched the trial in 2009 allowing heavy freight trucks up to 30 metres long on freeways linking the Port of Melbourne with major industrial areas in the west and north of the city and in the green triangle region in southwestern Victoria.

The Victorian Opposition has backed the establishment of the Wimmera Intermodal Freight Terminal at Dooen, which is designed to maintain the state’s competitiveness in the grain export market.

The $16.75 million project, which has been described by Victorian Transport Minister Terry Mulder as a “vital” element in the freight supply chain, will facilitate a 23.5 hectare terminal and process up to 18,600 containers within five to six years.

The state-of-the-art facility will replace the aged terminal at Horsham and provide the grain, pulse and oilseed industries in the Wimmera region with a direct export facility.

EVEN heavy rail should be considered in viability studies for rail in Bondi, Mayor John Wakefield said.

“Any studies need to look at the potential of extending the existing heavy rail route from Bondi Junction, down under Birriga Rd and should terminate near the Rose Bay Golf course to minimise negative impacts on the Bondi Basin,” Cr Wakefield said.

Although Surfers Paradise and Southport have both been a hive of preparatory construction activity for the past few months, Gold Coasters have been warned all hell will break loose when the project's major works start in January.

The next stage of construction is laying the tracks and cables which will power the $1.67 billion system's trams along the 13km first stage from Griffith University to Broadbeach.

Adelaide-based tourism transport brand Great Southern Rail has hired George Patterson Y&R Adelaide as its creative agency following a five-way pitch.

GP Y&R replaces Adelaide agency Einstein Da Vinci, who did not re-pitch for the business. GP Y&R will be responsible for creative across multiple channels including digital. The first campaign will be unveiled in late December.

Auckland Transport is backing a finding that an airport rail loop would provide higher long-term benefits than other transport options for the region's southwestern sector.

The board of the council-controlled organisation yesterday gave its approval for a multi-agency study to progress to a detailed scheme assessment and business case for providing airport rail links from both central Auckland and Manukau.

ANOTHER transport stoush is breaking out between Canberra and Macquarie Street, after the federal Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, called on the state to begin work on a freight corridor that would carve through parts of northern Sydney.

In a speech in Sydney yesterday, Mr Albanese lamented that the state government had not yet signed off on a series of rail projects that would help separate freight and passenger rail between Sydney and Newcastle.

A COUNCIL of Mayors South East Queensland lobbying mission to Canberra has raised little Federal Government action on heavy rail extension.

Heavy rail is a CMSEQ Magnificent 7 Project, which deputy mayor Daphne McDonald promoted on Mayor Ron Clarke's behalf as a must-have for the Gold Coast's Commonwealth Games 2018 bid.

"The response was like everything: there's little or no funding available," Cr McDonald said. "But we've got to keep peddling it to our Federal Members and show them how important this is for our residents.

REPRESENTATIVES from Wimmera municipalities toured the Wimmera Intermodal Freight Terminal site at Dooen yesterday for the first time since the first sod was turned.

Horsham councillor and terminal committee chairman Bernard Gross was pleased with the turnout for the bus tour, with representatives from Horsham, Hindmarsh, Yarriambiack and Buloke municipalities as well as representatives from the state and federal governments' project control group, based in Melbourne.